Seemingly every other week, there's a new diet making the rounds on social media, promising to help us shed the pounds without all that insane discipline or compromising too much in terms of deliciousness. It's a tricky balancing act, and there's a ton of people out there peddling different types of food discipline.
Alongside the vegetarians, vegans and the regular meat eaters, we've got the more left-field eaters who employ a different way to diet. We're talking pescatarians, we're talking about the keto diet and the Atkins diet, we might even be talking about the carnivore diet. But have you ever heard of a flexitarian?
I hadn't either, but once you figure out what it is, you'll realise you might have been one all along. According to registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, the newest diet is one you're very familiar with.
"'Flexitarianism' is the hot new term for healthy dieting that minimizes meat without excluding it altogether. This is an inclusive eating plan, meaning it does not take away foods but rather adds new foods to those you already eat. The Flexitarian Diet gradually guides you to eat more veggies while still enjoying your favorite meats."
Now, I don't know about you, but I feel as if we're already really familiar with the flexitarian diet. The way it's described, it's a combination of eating meat with vegetables and other non-meat products. It... it sounds a lot like... just being an omnivore.
But even so, that's not stopped some food brands from jumping on the trend, and producing some flexitarian menu foods. One such brand is the budget favourite Aldi, who made the rounds last week for producing a 'flexitarian' burger, but not everyone's exactly what you'd call "on board".
Okay, so above you should be able to spot the flexitarian burger, made with what looks to be fresh British beef. But one angry vegan is slamming Aldi for their newest store item. Laura Paterson posted an astonishing rant about Aldi flexitarian burgers on Facebook, letting everyone know exactly how she felt about flexitarianism.
"Are you taking the mickey? Is this for real? Flexitarian is not a thing. You either eat meat or you don't. Don't use Flexitarian as a poxy bit of advertising to flog your products. It's a meat burger and that's all there is to it. You've got this very wrong."
"If you're eating meat, technically you're an omnivore," she added, but the 44-year-old vegan got smacked down on the social media post, with other people labelling her a "ranting hysterical bore". This from user Robert John:
"Surely you should be encouraging people to try this diet rather than pushing them straight to veganism where ranting like a hysterical bore becomes a massive side effect!"
Yeah, it didn't take very long for things to descend into a flame war, this being the internet and all. But at least we've got a new way to eat that can help us to feel better about our dieting choices. Well, if we could stop arguing about it, that is...
